Friday, September 03, 2004

What do we know about campus information literacy programs? Librarians are caught up in a whirlwind of activity. Faculty are aware of the numerous and varied information sources that are available. There are more requests for instruction, and librarians are reaching a larger number of students than ever before. Disciplinary faculty and librarians are more attentive to the need to teach students the methods for accessing and critically evaluating information. Students are required to use a greater variety of sources when writing papers. At the campus level, academic senates have adopted information literacy resolutions, committees have established information literacy requirements in the curriculum, and varied examples of the reform of general education show inclusion of information literacy.

More than five years have passed since the first survey of information literacy programs at higher education institutions was conducted by the National Forum on Information Literacy, (ACRL),Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and Western Accreditation Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities.1

These years have seen tremendous national activity in information literacy. Foremost within ACRL was the creation in 1997 of the Institute for Information Literacy2 with its Immersion Program for librarian professional development, and institutional best practice and community partners’ initiatives. More recently, two efforts stand out—the ALA Special Presidential Committee on Information Literacy Community Partnerships3 and the development, endorsement, publication, and distribution of the “Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.”4 Not only have these efforts been widely applauded, but their impact can be seen in the explosion of activity within the institutions of higher education as evidenced by presentations at professional conferences.